MOScout Daily Update: Utility Bill Perfected - Patterson Says Time's Running Out on Royals and Chiefs - Schroer Dings May Consent Bills and more...

Quick Friday update…

Cierpiot Perfects Big Utility Bill

Sen. Mike Cierpiot was able to perfect his transformative utility bill yesterday.  It was a big achievement.  Though it still has a way to go before landing on the governor’s desk, winning initial Senate approval is huge.  Senate perfection is often one of the biggest barriers in the obstacle course that is the legislative process.

Sen. Angela Mosley did not block the bill yesterday even though there were no changes made to the bill.  This begged the question what she had extracted in return for removing her opposition. She did get her SB 40 (creating a “Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force”) perfected, so some thought that was the deal. 

·       Others, however, noting that bill was already in line on the calendar, weren’t sure that was the case.  

Schroer Knocks May Bills Off Consent Calendar

Sen. Nick Schroer formally objected to SB 110 and SB 111 being on the Senate Consent Calendar. 

Only bills which received unanimous approval in committee and are deemed non-controversial can go on the Consent Calendar.  Consent bills enjoy a speedier track as they skip the perfection process, and aren’t subject to amendments.  Any senator can knock any bill off the consent calendar that they think merits more scrutiny.

SB 110, which designates January 5 of each year as “Kappa Alpha Psi Week” in Missouri, and SB 111, which designates September as “Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month,” are sponsored by Sen. Karla May who has been leading the opposition to Schroer’s crime bill.

House Passes Big Bills

The House passed three big bills yesterday.  The St. Louis police takeover bill had the healthiest margin of passage.  But the other two were tighter votes.

Rep. Brad Christ’s crime bill: 106-47

Rep. Dane Diehl’s pesticide bill: 85-72

Rep. Matthew Overcast’s statute of limitations bill: 92-42
What It Means

The tight votes in the House usually presage trouble in the Senate where it doesn’t take that many members to slow down bills or demand compromises for passage.

Patterson on Stadiums

Speaker Jon Patterson, in his end of the week press conference, spoke about his determination to keep the Royals and Chiefs sport teams in Missouri.

[Jackson] County legislators Manny Abarca and Sean Smith will be here and maybe some others and we do plan to meet with the governor and the House and Senate leadership to discuss the plans going forward.

What I can tell you is that I think the time is running out… I do think this is going to be something that has to happen at the County [level] first and then the state to come in… I think Jackson County will need to decide whether they want to support this venture or will they have an empty parking lot or empty stadiums which is not free.  It costs a lot of money to maintain stadiums that are empty and it costs a lot of money to tear down stadiums that are empty.  So I hope next week we can meet.  I’m grateful for the governor and the Senate leadership for being there and I hope we can come up with a plan going forward.

And

JP also announced that Reps. Ed Lewis and Marlene Terry would be the House representative on Governor Mike Kehoe’s Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force.  The purpose of the task force is to look at rewriting the “foundation formula” which determines how state funding for elementary and secondary schools is divvied up.

$5K+ Contributions

Committee for Independence MO - $25,000 from NorthPoint Development, LLC.

Committee for Independence MO - $10,000 from Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area PAC.

Yes on ECC ECC Foundation Campaign Fund - $80,000 from East Central College Foundation.

Lobbyist Registrations

James Harris added Contemporary Presentations.

Levi Anthony Lovell and Carson Pope added Missouri AFL-CIO.

Kristine Telford added Edison Electric Institute.

Chris Darryl Kachingwe deleted Precision Body and Paint 2nd Chance Program.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays Donna Baringer, Craig Unruh, Elbert Walton, Harry Kennedy, Steve Stenger, and Jo Mannies.